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After

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires

Grady Hendrix2020

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

Same tense register, still horror

1 more ↓

  • The Reformatory

    Tananarive Due2023

    A Black boy in 1950s Florida is sent to a brutal reform school where he sees the ghosts of dead students. He tries to survive the Jim Crow South.

    Same tense register, still southern gothic

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

Denser prose

tense → dreamlike

3 more ↓

  • Ficciones

    Jorge Luis Borges1945

    A collection of short stories exploring philosophical paradoxes, infinite libraries, and imaginary encyclopedias.

    tense → meditative

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

  • At Swim-Two-Birds

    Flann O'Brien1939

    A student writes a story about a man whose own characters rebel and plot against him. It incorporates Irish myth and multiple layers of fiction.

    tense → playful

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1

  • Love & Sleep

    John Crowley1994

    Pierce Moffett researches the history of magic while living in a small town. The narrative shifts between his life and the Renaissance.

    tense → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

To recover

tense → playful

3 more ↓

  • Alpine for you

    Maddy Hunter2003

    A woman leads a group of senior citizens on a tour of the Swiss Alps. When a passenger dies, she must investigate her fellow travelers.

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Love on the Brain

    Ali Hazelwood2022

    A neuroscientist must co-lead a NASA project with a man she believes has hated her since grad school.

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf

    Molly Harper2011

    A librarian in Alaska finds her neighbor caught in a trap and discovers he is a werewolf. They investigate a series of local attacks together.

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Mind's Eye

    Douglas E. Richards2014

    A man discovers he has the ability to access the internet and process data directly with his mind. He is hunted by a secret organization.

    tense → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

  • The Atlantis Gene

    A.G. Riddle2013

    A geneticist and a counter-terrorism agent uncover a global conspiracy involving human evolution and an ancient Antarctic discovery.

    tense → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

  • Monster Hunter International

    Larry Correia2007

    An accountant kills his boss, who has become a werewolf, and is recruited by a private company that hunts monsters for government bounties.

    tense → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • The Habitation of the Blessed

    Catherynne M. Valente2010

    A priest finds the lost kingdom of Prester John. The story is told through three nested layers of journals, myths, and historical accounts.

    tense → dreamlike

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

  • Absalom, Absalom!

    William Faulkner1936

    The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.

    tense → elegiac, still southern gothic

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2

  • Unfinished Tales

    J.R.R. Tolkien1980

    A collection of incomplete narratives and essays that expand the history, geography, and lore of Middle-earth.

    tense → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • The Damnation Game

    Clive Barker1985

    An ex-con becomes a bodyguard for a billionaire who made a deal with a supernatural gambler. The debt comes due through gore and resurrection.

    tense → bleak, still horror

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

  • Last Days

    Brian Evenson2009

    A detective is kidnapped by a cult that practices ritual amputation and forced to investigate a murder within their ranks.

    tense → clinical, still horror

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

  • 13 Dreams to Kill Cthulhu

    Raasiq Shaikh2026

    Same tense register, still horror

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2